·Montana
State University-Billings Downtown Campus celebrated its official opening on
Friday, December 3, 2004, of which Billings Mayor Charles Tooley proclaimed to
be MSU-Billings Downtown Campus Day in Billings. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the North
Broadway facility, with music provided by the MSU-Billings Jazz Ensemble. The University opened its doors to the
community for tours and refreshments.

·Professor
Tom Hinthone received the Ad Hoc
Reviewer of the Year award at the annual North American Case
Research Association (NACRA) conference in Sedona, AZ. The award was
presented to Professor Hinthone on Friday evening at a dinner including some
175 business case authors. This is a
prestigious award presented by the editor of the Case Research Journal.

·Dr.
Sheila McGinnis and the health administration faculty have been awarded a
contract to conduct a feasibility study for health care services in Livingston,
MT. Dr. McGinnis is partnering on this project with faculty not
only in the College of Allied Health Professions, but also in the College of
Business and the College of Arts and Sciences.

·Montana
State University-Billings Piano Performance student Jacquelyn Weitz, a senior
from Billings, MT., recently returned from the Netherlands where she was chosen
as one of 30 students from across the globe, and the only student from the
United States, to compete in the Young Artists’ Competition of the Netherlands.

·Senator
Max Baucus, MT, arrived at the College of Technology on November 1, 2004, for a
casual get-together with faculty and students.
Senator Baucus toured the college facilities stopping for program and
equipment updates in the areas of Process Plant Technology, Welding Lab, Auto
Technology, Diesel Technology, Tool Room, HVACR Lab/Classroom, Computer Systems
Technology, and Health Occupations. A post-tour
meeting was held with faculty/staff in attendance in the COT Conference Room
where Senator Baucus explained his interest in the importance of two-year
institutions providing technical training in skilled labor areas and his
intention to assist in funding for the upkeep, improvement, and continuance of
such programs.

·Montana
State University-Billings, in partnership with Montana-Dakota Utilities,
demonstrated an innovative, cutting-edge source of fuel cell energy, on
Tuesday, November 16, 2004, at the Billings Armed Forces Reserve Center. The first of its kind in Montana, the Proton
Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell holds great promise of a new energy source
for the future. The project was funded through an $185,000 contract from
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
(CERL), to MSU-Billings and Brian Gurney, Energy Program Manager for the
MSU-Billings’ Center of Applied Economic Research.

·Dr.
Randolfi and the Department of Health and Human Performance (HHP) have been
informed they will be receiving continuation monies for tobacco
prevention.

·Ron
Lambert recently joined MSU-Billings as Director of Marketing. Mr. Lambert came to Billings from
Metropolitan State College of Denver, where he was director of Creative
Services. He has received regional and
national recognition, including a national Gold Award for a print advertising
campaign from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

·The Colleges of Business, Technology, and Lifelong
Learning co-sponsored a booth at the Chamber of Commerce’s 2004 Business
Showcase held at the Holiday Inn Grand Montana. This event, attended by
over 1200 people provided great exposure to the campus and its many
programs. Students from the College of Business’s professional selling
class manned the booth as a class assignment. This experiential learning
component was favorably received by all students learning how to apply theory
to practice.

Montana
State University-Northern

Chancellor
Alex Capdeville

·MSU-Northern
Nursing Program – The
Montana State University – Northern nursing program announces the pass rate
results for nursing students graduating in May 2004. Of the three sites, Havre with 15 students, Great Falls with 12
students and Lewistown with 13 students, all campuses report a 100% pass
rate with all students successfully passing the NCLEX exam on their first
attempt. Throughout the past year, the nursing program has been going
through some significant changes. One
of the most important changes has been a change in leadership for the program. Mary Pappas, Director of Nursing, has been
working very hard to implement more frequent and positive communications
between faculty and students, and between MSU-Northern and its community-health
partners. The nursing program continues
to make progress on its short-term and long-term plan for continued
improvement. The program is also in the
final preparation stage for its visit by the National League Nursing
Accreditation Commission (NLNAC) on March 1-3, 2005. NLNAC is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the
national accrediting agency for nursing education programs.

·Cabin
Fever – Cabin Fever
Institute is a partnership between MSU-Northern Extended University Department
and the County Extension Offices in Hill, Blaine, Liberty and Chouteau
Counties. The mission of the Cabin
Fever Institute is to provide an opportunity for individuals to participate in
a wide variety of educational offerings, sometimes including ones that might
not otherwise be available in this area.
Cabin Fever is designed to be self-supporting and the course fees
generate the income to pay the expenses associated with this program. This year's Cabin Fever Program will be held
December 20-22, 2004 and January 3-7, 2005. If you would like further
information, please contact MSU-Northern Extended University at 265-3730.

·We
Love MSU-Northern Ball – The 19th annual We Love MSU-Northern Ball sponsored by the Soroptimist
International of Havre will be held on Saturday, February 26, 2005. This event has a long track record of
serving excellent food and providing great entertainment. During the past 18 years the Soroptimists
have raised many thousands of dollars for scholarships for non-traditional
students. I invite everyone to
attend. Please contact my office for further
information.

Montana
State University – Great Falls College of Technology

Dean
Mary Sheehy Moe

·Senator
Baucus Roundtable –
Both of Montana’s United States Senators visited the College during Fall
Semester. On October 27, Senator Max Baucus toured the campus and met with
students, faculty and staff in the South Commons. There he engaged them in a discussion of a bill he is
co-sponsoring with Senator Enzi to improve affordability, access and
opportunity in higher education. On
December 1, Senator Conrad Burns met with the College’s management team to
discuss economic development initiatives that would help North Central Montana.

·To market, to market – Five artisans from the TRACE pilot
project were recently selected to participate in Kentucky Crafted: The Market,
scheduled for March 3-6, 2005, in Louisville, KY. Over 500 retailers, in addition to 14,000 members of the public,
attend the Market annually. Kentucky is one of the few states in the country to
sponsor a wholesale show for its craft businesses. The Market serves as a major sales outlet for the Kentucky craft
marketing program and generates two to three million dollars in sales
annually. Through an arrangement made
by the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, Kentucky Crafted has generously
offered to help boost creative entrepreneurship in Montana by reserving six
booths for Montana artisans.

·Dental
students serve the community - The College’s Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting
students had a display at the Run, Walk or Crawl…Benefis Healthcare Baby Fair,
a free event to give families useful health care information for their infants
and children. The dental hygiene students also gave dental information to
shoppers at Holiday Village Mall to recognize October as Dental Hygiene Month.

·3rd
Annual Art Auction sponsored by the Auto Body Department – Once again, auto body students
transformed the scrap metal from welding classes into art for a silent auction
funding auto body scholarships. The art
ranged in style from race cars and outhouses to the family farm. The art
auction has been very popular in the past, and has been sold to collectors as
far away as New Mexico and California.

·Instructors honored in Who’s Who
Among America’s Teachers: Every two years members of the
academic community are recognized for educational excellence. This year Leonard
Bates, Mark Plante and Colleen Hazen have been chosen by members in the
community as the most influential educators in our college and have been listed
in the 2004 edition of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

·MSU - Northern Great Falls Campus
Open House: An Open House celebrating the new location of
the MSU-Northern offices on the Great Falls COT campus was held on Nov. 16. The
Great Falls Chamber of Commerce facilitated the Ribbon Cutting ceremony with
Chancellor Alex Capdeville and Dean Mary Moe officiating.

Dawson
Community College

President Terry Hetrick

·On Friday and Saturday, December 3 and 4, 2004, the DCC
Music Department, under the direction of Lisa
Shields, conducted its annual Madrigal.
As in years past, this event attracts over 100 individuals to each of
the two performances for a medieval style dinner and musical performance. This was the thirteenth consecutive year of
this event.

·On Saturday, December 4, 2004, DCC conducted its first
fund-raising Telethon on KXGN Television in Glendive. This two and a half hour event helped raise nearly $17,000 for
the college’s major facilities expansion project. William Marcus, host
of the PBS program “Backroads of Montana” served as co-host with Terry Hetrick, DCC President. During the course of the Telethon,
pre-recorded videos of interviews with college faculty, staff and students were
shown to emphasize the need for the new facilities. In addition, pre-recorded entertainment by two local bands and
student choirs were shown.

·On Thursday and Friday, December 16 and 17, 2004, Darrel Hammon and Terry Hetrick traveled to Billings, Roundup and Sidney to meet with
area legislators in preparation for the upcoming legislative session. Each of these three meetings was very
productive and helped inform legislators of the role and mission of the
community colleges.

·Construction of the new physical education and performing
arts centers continues. The majority of
effort to-date has centered on pouring concrete for the structures’ footings
and support walls. Fisher Construction
has informed the College that the structural steel for the physical education
center is scheduled for shipment at the end of the first week of March and will
arrive on site by the end of the second week.
Concrete work for the adjoining performing arts center has now
commenced. In addition, the
architectural plans for the library/learning center are under review.

Flathead
Valley Community College

President Jane Karas

·Interim Vice President of Instruction Kathy Hughes has accepted the position of Vice President of Instruction, effective December 15. Hughes brings to the position 30 years of
experience in education and more than 20 years of administrative experience at
FVCC. Prior to serving as Interim Vice
President, Hughes served as Director of Continuing Education and Workforce
Training at FVCC from 1986-2004.

·Flathead Valley Community College was awarded the Association
of Community College Trustees(ACCT)
Community Economic 2004 Best Practice Award for the Western Region for
its role in the Flathead Business and Education Council (FBEC).

·FVCC held its 11th
Annual Scholarship Award Luncheon October 28. Nearly 200 students
were recognized for receiving private donor scholarships totaling over
$130,000. The scholarship donors were
also recognized for their generous contributions.

·Flathead
Valley Community College and Montana
State University-Bozeman recognized MSU’s first upper division nursing class graduates in the Flathead Valley
in December. The program, that MSU
began to offer in the Flathead Valley January 2003,provides Valley residents the opportunity to earn nursing degrees
without leaving the area and to secure nursing jobs locally.

Coordinated through MSU's nursing
program at the University of Montana, the program was made possible through the
partnerships of both MSU and Flathead
Valley Community College along with Kalispell Regional Medical Center and North
Valley Hospital. Many of the eight
graduates fulfilled their general education requirements at Flathead Valley
Community College and earned associate degrees before enrolling in the
MSU-Bozeman program.

·Four Flathead Valley Community College surveying
students have been named recipients of Montana Association of Registered Land
Surveyors (MARLS) 2004 Scholarships.
The students were among five in the state of Montana who were awarded
the $2,000 scholarships. The recipients
include Eric Konop of Rice Lake,
Wis.; William Morrison of Whitefish;
Wayne Lockman of Kalispell; and Richard Harrison of Whitefish.

·Flathead Valley Community College advanced sign language students
utilized the skills learned in class for Kalispell Community Theatre’s
production of The Importance of Being
Earnes in November. As part of the
college’s Service Learning program, the students interpreted all five
performances for the hearing-impaired patrons.

·Flathead Valley Community College Service
Learning partnered with Flathead Valley Habitat for Humanity to honor “Make a Difference Day” October 23. To commemorate the national day of doing
good for others, FVCC staff and students assisted a Habitat for Humanity
homeowner with preparing her yard for the winter season.

·The Flathead Valley Community College Service Learning
Office and Student Senate hosted two holiday
giving trees to benefit children of Court
Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).
The college’s initial goal to collect 75 toys was exceeded nearly 300
percent by the generous donations of over 200 toys from FVCC faculty, staff,
students and community members.

·Flathead
Valley Community College’s Design I class, instructed by Gayle Hegland, painted a muralfor the Kalispell location of Sportsman Ski Haus.Painted
by 11 students, the mural portrays Montana’s countryside and wildlife
scenes throughout the four seasons. The
mural is sponsored by Sportsman Ski Haus and was displayed in the store
permanently December 15.

·Flathead
Valley Community Theatre is taking its summer hit “The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr” to area high schools. The tour began in December at Summit Preparatory School in Kalispell, Eureka High School
and Bigfork High School and will continue in January. The high energy comedy centers on three actors trying to
perform all of Shakespeare’s 37 plays with a modern-day twist in less than two
hours.

·Flathead Valley Community College hosted over 200 local
third grade students November 17 for “Seussville
University,” a day-long celebration of Dr. Seuss that encourages local
children to read. Activities included
art and music classes, games, storytelling and a theatre production, each of
which was centered on a Dr. Seuss book.
Eight third grade classes from Canyon Elementary, Cross Currents
Christian School, Helena Flats, Lakeside Elementary, Kalispell Montessori, St.
Matthew’s and Smith Valley schools participated in the event. Approximately 50 FVCC students participated
in the event through the Service Learning program.

·Flathead Valley Community College hosted its 12th Annual Native American Thanksgiving
Celebration for Kids November 22. Approximately
500teachers, assistants and children in kindergarten through fourth grade from area public
elementary schools attended the event.
Local artist Jack Gladstone
educated the children about Native American culture through performances of
songs and historical presentations.

Miles
Community College

President Darrel Hammon

§For the “Techno Savvy Career Pathways” grant project, Brett Bratland, IT Support, flew to
Austin, Texas, for an A+ certification camp. He was among only 3 of 9 at
the camp who passed the exam. Brett is now working on the A+ certification
curriculum for Miles Community College with the assistance of other IT faculty.

§Miles Community College has now become a testing center for the IC3 computer
literacy certification program. The first courses for the program
will be offered Spring semester.

§Foundations
of Art students; Miles Community College instructor, Kathy Wankel; and Lindsay Farber and Whitney
Wankel, two dually-enrolled high school students volunteered to help the
elementary art teacher with “Native American Days,” which was part of the
Enrichment unit in the art curriculum of the district art program.
Students were involved in teaching first graders in the following areas:
LaCrosse, spear-throwing, dance, clay pottery, sign language, face painting,
naming animals with symbolic labels, and shield painting.

§The Miles Community
College library catalog is online with the State of Montana library and on
our online library reference page. Teena
Friesz and Wendy Hodgson, Library staff, completed the training with the
state concerning our catalog and circulation software.

§The Automotive
Technology students at Miles Community College provided a free “Winter
Check” for Retired Seniors Volunteer Program (RSVP) members. The students
performed a 41-point inspection of the vehicles. They performed minor service,
made written recommendations for any major repairs, and then went over the
check list with each owner. Each owner was then provided with a copy of the
report. The response from RSVP was very positive with the students checking 33
vehicles.

§The Building
Technology students at Miles Community College volunteered their time,
equipment, and manpower to set up the Miles City Youth Hockey Association
hockey rink in the Agri-Sports Complex at the county fairgrounds. The
students spent two days surveying, leveling, and constructing the rink.

§The Miles Community
College HOSA chapter has once again been very active. Since the
October blood drive, they have held three fundraisers and nearly reached our
$300 annual goal this semester! Additionally, HOSA decorated the residents'
doors for Christmas at Holy Rosary Health Center long-term care. They will
return on December 15th to wrap residents' gifts during their Christmas Gift
store event.

§We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and holiday
season.

Montana
State University-Bozeman

President Geoff Gamble

·COLLEGE OF
BUSINESS accounting students placed 6th in the nation for first-time
pass rate on the 2003 CPA EXAM. For the 17th time in 21 years, MSU students
have ranked in the top 10. CARLEN MARTINELL of Great Falls
received the Montana Society of CPA’s George D. Anderson Gold Medal Award for a
Montana university or college student with the highest overall score.

·MAUREEN
WALSH, a senior from Great Falls, was recently named Regional
Resident Hall Advisor of the Year by the seven-state intermountain region of
the National Association of College and University Residence Halls. A Family Sciences major, Walsh will compete
in the national competition this spring.

·NEIL
CORNISH, physics professor, is named as a contributor for one of
Discover magazine’s top 100 discoveries of 2004. Cornish whose work in determining the size of the universe has
been internationally recognized in numerous venues over the past year is credited
in an article titled, "Astronomers Measure Cosmos Width" on page 58
of the January 2005 issue. In addition,
Cornish’s work is part of an American Museum of Natural History exhibit that
recently went online.

·ARCHITECTURE
STUDENTS, under the direction of Professor CHRIS LIVINGSTON and his project foreman, MSU graduate WAYNE SELLERS, donated more than 13,000
hours to design and build an annex to the Network Against Sexual and
Domestic Abuse shelter. The addition
includes two bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms and a modern kitchen, and provides immediate
relief from overcrowding and a bright, cheery atmosphere for victims and their
children. Professor JERRY STEPHENS and his CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS collaborated
on the project as well.

·BETTY
MCCOY, director of program planning for Montana 4-H, was
recognized with the Air Force Recruiting Salute award, a prestigious lifetime
achievement award given to just one 4-H leader in the country per year. McCoy
was recognized for creating a positive image for Extension and its 4-H programs
through her exemplary leadership and citizenship.

·MARIAM
STEWART (junior - nursing, Crow Agency), DENEAN STANDING (junior – cell biology and neuroscience, Ft.Peck)
and KHENA BULLSHIELDS (junior – psychology, Bigfork and
Canada) each earned national awards at the Society for the Advancement of
Chicanos and Native Americans in Science conference. The women were part of an American Indian Research Opportunities
(AIRO) team. AIRO is a consortium of Montana’s seven
tribal colleges and MSU. More than
3,000 student researchers competed at the competition, entering over 500
posters.

·The ELECTRICAL AND
COMPUTER ENGINEERING DEPARMENT is one of ten university programs recognized
by Micron as an elite "Key School".
Micron, considered the world’s leading provider of advanced semiconductor
solutions, supports the department through scholarships, in-kind donations,
prime career opportunities and a vigorous internship program. Thirteen students recently received a total
of over $50,000 in scholarships.

·MSU winter wheat breeder PHIL BRUCKNER developed MSU’s first herbicide-tolerant wheat. Part of the Clearfield winter wheat line,
the variety has been licensed to WestBred, LLC, a Bozeman-based plant breeding
company with six associate seed companies around the state. WestBred associates now have about 12,000
bushels of the seed in the ground, primarily in the state’s Golden Triangle and
Judith Basin areas. Craig Cook,
WestBred’s winter wheat breeder indicates that most of what will be harvested next
summer will be certified seed available to Montana growers for fall planting.

Montana
Tech of The University of Montana

Chancellor W. Franklin
Gilmore

·The Mineral Museum received two grants through the Montana Lewis
and Clark Bicentennial Commission and the National Park Service to develop the
traveling exhibit Montana Geology and Geography—through the eyes of Lewis
and Clark, which focuses on geologic and navigational aspects of the
expedition.

·Montana Tech and its collaborators have received support in the
recently completed FY2005 Federal budget for nearly $7,000,000. These funds will support the continuation of
collaborative programs in mine reclamation and advanced separation technology
for the minerals industry, and Montana Tech programs in graduate student
international exchange and chemistry of the Berkeley Pit. New programs in titanium fabrication and
energy technology feature collaborations with industry and federal research
laboratories.

·Montana Tech graduate students participated in record numbers in
the thesis abroad program. Ten master’s
degree students spent the fall semester with research partners in Argentina and
Australia working on a variety of topics from heart valve engineering to
advanced mineral processing.

·Graduate enrollment increased
by 10% in the fall of 2004 compared to last year. The increase was driven by growth in our on-line offerings in
Project Engineering Management and Industrial Hygiene. International admissions continue to recover
from the 9/11 decrease.

·Professor Willis Weight, Geological Engineering, had a book
chapter, Level Measurements in Groundwater Monitoring Wells, published
in a new John Wiley and Sons (2005) book entitled "Environmental
Instrumentation and Analysis Handbook." He was also invited to make a presentation at Little Big Horn
College on October 15th on a new public water supply well design for the Crow
Agency and Lodgegrass communities developed by Chad Kraus, a senior in
Geological Engineering.

·Professor Robert Ziegler, Liberal Studies, has been invited to
present a paper at Bristol University’s (UK) Conference on the Art Novel in
late February 2005. His paper, “The
Oedipal Murder of Naturalism in J.-K. Huysmans’s Early Fiction,” stems from
work on his second book, “The Mirror of Divinity: The World & Creation in
J.-K. Huysmans,” published by the University of Delaware Press.

·Metallurgical & Materials Engineering (MetE) had three MS
students spend two months each in Australia doing research on their theses
through the Student Abroad Program which is supported a State Department grant
through the Research Office. Darby
Stacey was at Monash University, Melbourne, working on Alkaline Sulfide
Leaching of Gold; Josh Junkert was at Griffith University, Brisbane, working on
Gold Thiosulfate Recovery by Modified Carbon Adsorption; and Dave Douglas was
at James Cook University in Townsville, working on Simultaneous Electrowinning
of Cupric and Ferrous Ions.

·Dr. Courtney Young, MetE, concluded efforts organizing a symposium
for the Annual SME Meeting to be held in Salt Lake City February 28-March 2,
2005. The symposium consists of 32
invited papers with five plenary lectures in honor of his former PhD advisor,
Dr. Jan D. Miller. This is among the
first that SME has allowed honoring one of its more prestigious members.

·Professor Diane Wolfgram, Geological Engineering, was an
ABET evaluator for the Geological Engineering program at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison in November 2004.

President G.M. Dennison

·The
University of Montana Office of Civic Engagement will provide University of
Montana students with the opportunity to travel next summer to Southeast Asia
and take part in the academic, travel and service course. They will work at a school for homeless
children, visit a nature preserve, work with children with disabilities and
visit Luang Prabang, Laos-a UNESCO World Heritage site.

·A
University of Montana Journalism student, Joe
Friedrichs, placed in the latest round of the national William Randolph
Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards Program.

·Sue Griffin, a University of Montana Forestry
and Conservation doctoral student, was awarded a Canon National Park Science
Scholars Program Scholarship for her marmot research in Olympic National Park,
Wash. The scholarship, grants selected
Ph. D. students $78,000 in scholarship funds to conduct research essential to
the conservation of national parks.

·The
Montana Committee for the Humanities was honored earlier this month with the
Helen and Martin Schwartz Prize for Excellence in Public Programming.

·Harry Fritz, who has taught history at The
University of Montana for nearly four decades, has been named the 2004 Montana
Professor of the Year The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. This is the fifth year in a row that a
University of Montana faculty member has won the prestigious award.

·Two
University of Montana student athletes, Shane
MacIntyre and Vasi Jankovich,
were rewarded with the Montana Athletes in Service Award by the Montana Campus
Compact.

·For an
unprecedented seventh year in a row, University of Montana law students have
won the right to compete at the National Moot Court Finals in New York
City. A University of Montana
team, Jeff Roth, Matt Thuesen,
Whitney Welsh, placed first in the
Northwest Regional Moot Court competition at the University of Washington in
November.

·The
University of Montana School of Law’s American Bar Association negotiation
competition team, Katie Olson and Doug Schultz, advanced to the final
round of the Region 10 competition held November.

·According
to the 2004 NCAA Division I Graduation-Rates Report, University of Montana graduates
70 percent of its student-athletes. The
average student-athlete graduate rate for all Division I schools is 62 percent.

·The
University of Montana has been awarded a three-year, $890,000 grant aimed at
increasing the number of American Indian pharmacy students and faculty members.

The
University of Montana Western

Chancellor Richard
Storey

Experience One Implementation Progress

·Western’s
large freshman class is currently signing up for next semester’s Experience One
courses. Departments are busy
developing course schedules for academic year 2005-6 and beyond. The goal is to have tentative schedules
developed two years in advance so that students can more easily plot out their
course to graduation.

One advantage of Experience One scheduling is that it allows for less
than a full semester’s commitment by adjunct faculty. This has already proven to be advantageous in recruiting faculty
to teach Experience One courses. Also,
several students have already taken advantage of the Experience One scheduling
by beginning classes at Western after block one courses have been
completed. This would be impossible
under traditional scheduling.

Advising Center

·Western’s new Advising Center, under the direction of David Moore,
is assisting faculty advisors in advising students who will be transitioning to
the Experience One format next year.
Advisors are working with individual students to devise a graduation
plan that will make it possible for all students to graduate within the same
time frame that would have been possible under the continuation of traditional
scheduling.

On-line Courses

·Fall semester
Western had 270 students enrolled in 19 different on-line courses, mostly
offered using WebCT courseware. Many of
these students are placebound and would not be able to take face-to-face
courses if those were the only ones to be offered. Asynchronous internet courses are also a good choice for students
whose work or extracurricular activities make it difficult to attend all class
sessions of face-to-face courses. In
keeping with its mission, Western strives to make its on-line courses as active
and experiential as possible. Current
enrollment totals 53 full-time equivalent (FTE) students or about 5 percent of
Western’s total FTE.

Western Elderhostel Programs

·The University of Montana Western is the eighth largest sponsor of
Elderhostel programs in the western region.
Western offers between 50 and 70 programs each year to people from all
over the country. Elderhostel is a
national non-profit organization that promotes learning and travel
opportunities for people 55-years and older.
Western's programming efforts infuse millions of dollars into southwest
Montana's economy. Over the last three
years Western's annual revenue from these programs averaged $803,000. Those revenues are spent in 11 communities,
support 20 hotels, 46 restaurants, 29 natural heritage centers (parks,
education centers, museums, etc.) and 24 transportation companies. In addition, the estimated $200 to $500 that
each program participant spends out-of-pocket contributes an additional
$200,000 -$500,000 each year to the state economy.

Faculty
Accomplishments

·Dr.
Jim Sethi, Western Professor of Business continues to be highly active as a
scholar with a number of recent publications and presentations to his
credit. These include the following
conference presentations:

·E-Commerce Global Trends and Challenges: Lessons for CEOs and
Strategic Managers, Ottawa: Institute for International Marketing, August 9,
2004.

·Dr. Zaspel’s research is supported by a grant from the National
Science Foundation. Both of his most
recent articles deal with potential problems that can arise when using
nanoscale magnets for high-density information storage.

·Another active scholar at Western is Dr. Rita Moore, Associate
Professor of Education. Her second
book, (authors: Rita Moore, UMW and Carol Gilles University of
Missouri-Columbia.) Reading Conversations: Retrospective Miscue Analysis with
Struggling Readers Grades 4-12 will be out in February 2005 with Heinemann
Publishers.

·Dr. Moore has also had an article accepted with Teacher Educator
(Ball State) entitled Validating Teaching and Learning Communities for Teacher
Education Reform. About building trust and sharing resources in professional
development settings.

·As part of the INBRE program, Western Assistant Professor of
Biology Dr. Michael Morrow has received a grant from the National Institute of
Health (NIH) to continue his research at Western. This grant has many purposes.
While it is largely a research grant to be used to further Dr. Morrow’s
studies on how proteins are secreted from the pathogenic yeast, Candida
albicans, it is also designed to seriously strengthen the biomedical
education capacity of Western. Some of
the major goals include getting more Western students interested in the
biomedical sciences, providing opportunities to these students to learn current
cell/molecular biology techniques by participating in individual research
projects, and significantly building the infrastructure of Western’s
cell/molecular biology labs. The grant
funds will largely be used to purchase major pieces of lab equipment and lab
supplies, make lab/facility improvements that will benefit the entire sciences
area, provide student employment opportunities to do research during the
summers and academic year, fund opportunities for Dr. Morrow and students to
travel to national and regional meetings to present research results, fund
travel to other Montana institutions to utilize equipment that is not present
at Western, and employ a full-time laboratory technician.

·Professor of Geology Dr. Rob Thomas’s Geology 432 - Depositional
Environments students presented their work in that class from last spring at
the national meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver, Colorado
in early November. The title of the
talk is: Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction
of the Mid-Miocene Beaverhead Graben in Southwest Montana. The national meeting of the Geological
Society of America is the largest gathering of geoscientists in the world,
attracting some 7,000 geoscientists from around the globe.

·At this same meeting, Dr. Thomas was an invited speaker for a
special topics session entitled "We Can Do Better: Alternatives to the
Same Old Lab-Lecture Format in the College Classroom.” The paper, which was
co-authored with Dr. Sheila Roberts is entitled: Making a Field-Based Geoscience Curriculum Work by Teaching One
Class at a Time: The University Of Montana Western. Dr. Thomas was invited to give this talk based on the buzz around
the geoscience community that Western was making significant changes to the
traditional geoscience curriculum with our Experience One format.

·Western
Associate Professor of English Dr. Diana Francis continues being successful
with her creative writing and had her second novel published in December. Its title is Path of Honor. It is the
second of her trilogy begun with Path of Fate.

·August’s
Montana State of the Arts had Dr. Francis’ article "Publishing Your First
Commercial Novel" in it. She will be teaching a workshop on fantasy
writing and acting as guest critiquer at the October Write On the Sound Writers
Conference in Edmonds, Washington. Dr.
Francis also recently had her short story "Native Spinsters" accepted
for publication in the literary journal Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet.

·Upon the nomination of a former student, David Moore, Academic
Assistant to the Provost, has had his biography accepted for publication in
Who's Who Among America's Teachers 2003-2004. In its award letter to Mr. Moore,
Who’s Who stated that “You have obviously made a difference in the life of the
student who nominated you.”

·Professor Alan Weltzien has a creative essay, Fathers and Sons,
Trails and Mountains, that's included in a new book, Eco-Man, edited
by Mark Allister and published (2004) by The University of Virginia Press. This book blends men's studies with current
trends in environmental studies.

·Dr. Weltzien also has an article, Higher Education Down Under,
appearing in the Fall 2004 issue of The Montana Professor. This article
distills some of his experience as a visiting scholar at Charles Sturt
University, in New South Wales, via the UM-CSU exchange agreement, January -
July 2003.

·Professor Julie Bullard and Western’s Early Childhood Education
Program was awarded a $68,000 grant from the Montana Department of Public
Health and Human Services. The grant
will be used for recruitment, retention, articulation, and enhanced degree
quality. One component of the grant
will be a coach/mentor program.
Research will be conducted on the effectiveness of the mentor/coach
model on student retention.

·Dr. John Xanthopoulos has accepted the invitation from Walden
University in Minneapolis Minnesota to join and become a founding member of
Walden University Social Change Task Force.

·Dr. Sean Eudaily’s first book, The Present Politics of the
Past: Indigenous Legal Activism and Resistance to (Neo)liberal Governmentality
(Routledge-NY, 2004), was publish this past July.

·Professor Craig Zaspel has had the article Excitation of
vortices using linear and nonlinear magnetostatic waves accepted for publication in Physical
Review. This is some theoretical
work that has applications in the area of microwave electronics and signal
processing. The idea began during a trip to Kiev in June, 2000. Coauthors are A. D. Boardman and L. Velasco,
Joule Physics Laboratory, University of Salford, Salford, U.K., Yu. G.
Rapoport, Physical Faculty, Kiev National University, Ukraine, V. V. Grimalsky
and S. V. Koshevaya, National Institute for Astrophysics, Optics and
Electronics, Puebla, Mexico